/ 


-^ 


V 


THE 


CHRISTIAN  EXAMINEE. 


No.    CCXXI. 

SEPTEMBER,    18G0 


7 


Porro  hi  eapientia  Deus  est, verus  philosophus  est  amator  Dei."  —St.  Acuustine. 


u. 


7 


^'     ? 


/  J  si  i?  u  /'c 


J 


c 


BOSTON: 

BY     THE     PROPRIETOR, 

At   WALKF.K,    WISE,    &    C.O.'S,  245  Washington   Street, 

LONDON  :  EDWAUD  T.  WHITFIELD,  178  Strand. 


•rdhig  to  Act  of  1  the  year  1860,  by  T.  B.  Fox,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the 

District  Cou^t  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


C{h    Cjrnsiitut    (faxmrnntx. 


The  Examiner  is  published  on  the  first  of  January,  March, 
May,  July,  September,  and  November,  by  the  Proprietor,  at 
Walker,  Wise,  &  Co.'s  Bookstore,  245  Washington  Street, 
Boston,  in  numbers  of  at  least  156  octavo  pages  each,  at  four 
dollars  a  year,  payable  in  advance. 

The  Examiner  will  be  sent,  by  mail,  to  any  part  of  the 
United  States,  free  of  postage,  on  the  remittance  of  a  year's 
subscription  in  advance. 

Clergymen  and  others  obtaining  four  subscribers,  and  re- 
mitting payment  for  one  year  in  advance,  shall  receive  a  fifth 
copy  gratis. 

Those  who  order  from  Booksellers  must  look  to  them  for 
their  numbers. 

g®*  Single  numbers  seventy-five  cents  each. 


Volumes  of  the  Examiner,  neatly  bound  in  cloth, 
will  be  given  in  exchange  for  numbers,  at  twenty-five  cents 
a  volume. 


A  few  complete  sets  of  the  Christian  Examiner,  from 
the  commencement  of  the  work  to  the  present  time,  can  be 
obtained  on  application  to  the  Proprietor. 


University  Press,  Cambridge :  Printed  by  Welcb,  Bigelow,  and  Company. 


THE 


CHRISTIAN    EXAMINEE. 


SEPTEMBER,     18  GO, 


matic  ;  Murray's  shop  and  Sterne's  Calais  hotel  had  attractions 
for  him  almost  equal  to  a  picture-gallery.  His  ideal  of  Art 
and  life  was  modified  by  the  English  standard  of  respectability. 
He  loved  the  beautiful  in  minute  and  casual,  rather  than  in 
grand  and  abstract  forms;  and  the  single  flower  he  delighted 
to  put  in  a  glass  every  morning  to  brighten  his  studio,  his  fas- 
tidious taste  in  companionship,  his  habit  of  noting  his  social 
experience,  his  provident,  harmonious,  and  well-ordered  life, 
are  in  striking  contrast  witli  the  vagaries  of  German  and  the 
ardor  of  Italian  painters.  His  patient,  unimpassioncd  tem- 
perament and  well-balanced  mind  suggest  altogether  a  differ- 
ent being  from  those  Vasari  has  chronicled,  or  such  as  are  met 
at  an  Ostia  picnic  or  sketching  on  the  Rhine ;  and  equally 
diverse  from  theirs  are  his  productions,  —  refined  expression, 
finish,  and  taste  far  exceeding  creative  and  ideal  power  or 
profound  sentiment. 


20 


FEB    7   1933  * 

234       \^  Genayfl  Hymns.  [Sept. 

Art.  V.  — GERMAN  HYMNS. 

1.  Evangelischer  Liederschatz  fur  Kirche,  Schule  und  Hans.     (Treas- 

ury of  Evangelic  Song,  for  the  Church,  School,  and  Home.)     Yon 
M.  Albert  Knapp.     Stuttgart  und  Tubingen.     1850. 

2.  Ausivahl  Altchristlicher    Lieder.       (Selection    of  Early   Christian 

Hymns.)     Yon  Ferdinand  Bassler.     Berlin.     1858. 

3.  Evangelische  Liederfreude.     (Joy  of  Evangelic  Song.)     Yon  Ferdi- 

nand Bassler.     Berlin.     1853. 

4.  In  der  Stille.     (In  the  Stillness.)     Yon  Karl  Sudhoff.     Breslau. 

1853. 

5.  Deutsches    Gesanghuch.       (German   Hymn-Book.)      Yon  Philipp 

Schaff.     Philadelphia:  Lindsay  and  Blakiston.     1859. 

6.  Sacred  Lyrics.     From  the  German.     Philadelphia:    Presbyterian 

Board  of   Publication. 

Many  of  our  readers  may  be  glad  to  be  made  acquainted 
with  the  titles  of  German  hymn-books  which  we  have  given 
above.  We  might,  indeed,  have  added  many  more,  but  these 
are  of  such  as  we  ourselves  have  examined.  Knapp's  volume 
contains  three  thousand  and  sixty-seven  pieces.  The  two  by 
Bassler  comprise  a  copious  and  choice  assortment  of  hymns, 
first,  from  the  second  to  the  fifteenth  century,  and  then  from 
Luther  down  to  our  own  times.  Sudhoff's  beautiful  collec- 
tion —  a  pearl  of  typographical  beauty,  and  full  of  pearls  of 
beautiful  thought,  sentiment,  and  expression,  which  might 
be  entitled  in  English  (like  a  recent  little  book  on  prayer) 
"  The  Still  Hour"  —  is  divided  into  five  parts,  headed  respec- 
tively, "  Stillness  before  God,"  "  Holy  Times,"  "  Faith's  Con- 
flict and  Victory,"  "  Life  in  Christ,"  and  «  The  Last  Things." 
Dr.  Schaff' s  neat  volume  contains  a  remarkably  tasteful  selec- 
tion of  pieces,  and  is  enriched  with  valuable  historical  notices 
of  hymns  and  their  authors.  And,  finally,  the  elegant  volume 
issued  by  the  Presbyterian  Board,  for  the  combined  fidelity, 
fervor,  and  grace  with  which  its  translations  are  executed, 
deserves  the  highest  praise. 

We  have  here  indicated  but  a  few  of  the  best  reservoirs  of 
German  sacred  song.  We  shall  try  to  give  our  readers  a  taste 
of  some  of  the  streams  from  which  they  have  been  filled. 


18G0.]  Gi  rman  Hymns.  286 

How  many  hymns  there  may  be,  at  this  day,  in  the  German 

language,  is  known,  probably,  to  some  of  the  all-knowing 
Germans,  but  not  to  us.  The  enormous  abundance  of  the 
materia]  for  the  historian  of  this  branch  of  Literature  may  be 
imagined  (or  rather,  its  unimaginableness  may  be  guessed)  by 
the  l'art  that  an  enthusiastic  amateur  and  antiquarian,  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  who  had  collected  two  hundred 
and  fifty  hymn-books,  numbered,  in  his  register  of  first  lines, 
sixty  thousand. 

To  such  a  sea  of  sacred  song  had  the  few  rills  that  gushed 
up  in  Luther's  day  already  swelled  a  hundred  years  ago ;  and 
when  one  thinks  what  a  singing  race  our  German  brethren 
are,  and  that  the  hymnological  catalogues  omit  multitudes  of 
religious  lyrics,  not  written  by  Church  poets,  or  for  Church 
purposes,  —  when  one  considers  that  almost  every  German 
poet  has  written  a  hymn,  and  (what  it  is  hardly  extravagant 
to  say)  that  almost  every  German  author  has,  at  least  in  form, 
written  poetry,  —  the  very  conception  of  what  may  be,  by  this 
time,  the  volume  of  that  ocean  of  German  Hymnology,  (to  say 
nothing  of  an  actual  sight  of  it,  and  then  a  plunge  into  it,)  is 
almost  enough  to  overwhelm  the  mind. 

Even  if  we  confined  ourselves  to  the  popularly  or  ecclesias- 
tically acknowledged  hymn-writers,  there  are  twenty  or  fifty 
men,  any  one  of  whom  would  supply  study  for  an  article,  not 
to  say  a  volume.  Luther,  with  his  sword-and-trumpct  songs 
of  the  Spirit,  a  handful  and  yet  a  host ;  Gerhardt,  the  flower 
of  German  Hymnology ;  Klopstock,  the  classic,  the  pious,  and 
the  patriotic,  who  would  fain  have  built  and  occupied  three 
tabernacles  at  once,  on  Zion,  Parnassus,  and  the  sides  of  his 
native  North  ;  Schcfiler  and  Terstecgcn,  the  sweet  and  soul- 
sat  inlying  spokesmen  of  the  mystic  Church  ;  Zinzcndorf,  the 
leader  of  the  most  musical  Moravian  ;  Matthias  Claudius,  who 
had  all  the  sweetness  and  simplicity  of  Luther,  but  only  the 
sunny,  and  not  the  stormy  side  of  his  character;  Arndt,  the 
veteran  hymnist  of  the  Liberation  War,  who  u  shows  the 
Church  how  one  may  be  a  Maccabce  and  yet  a  Christian  ;"  — 
any  one  of  these,  (and  how  many  another  name!)  might  alone 
fill  our  allotted  space  with  pleasant  and  instructive  study. 

With  all  this  embarrassment  of  riches,  our  plan  will  be,  while 


236  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

not  neglecting  the  chronological,  biographical,  and  analytical 
aspects  of  our  subject,  to  depend  most  on  letting  the  grand, 
simple,  sweet  old  singers  of  the  Fatherland  (so  far  as  they  can 
in  our  English  tongue,  or  at  least  by  our  English  phrase)  speak 
and  sing  for  themselves.  And  thus,  if  we  do  not  steer  our 
readers  very  scientifically  towards  any  port  over  the  great  deep 
that  has  been  spoken  of,  we  may  at  least  let  them  hear  across 
the  waters  some  genuine  tones  from  the  rich  German  harp. 

Most  of  the  pieces  we  present  will  probably  be  new  to  most 
of  our  readers.  In  a  few  cases  we  have  retranslated  what 
had  been  rendered  before ;  for  we  have  an  action  against  the 
translators,  too  generally,  that,  by  substituting  paraphrase  for 
translation,  by  smoothing  and  softening,  by  turning  homely 
expressions  into  handsome  ones,  and  direct  speech  into  sonorous 
circumlocution,  they  have  sacrificed  the  nerve  and  grit  and 
fire  of  their  original,  and  failed  to  represent  that  simplicity 
which  gives  to  lyric  poetry,  and  to  German  song  in  particular, 
its  most  peculiar  charm. 

We  take  this  occasion  to  protest  against  the  way  in  which  the 
German  Muse  has  been  despoiled  and  discredited,  and  by  men, 
too,  who  could  have  afforded  to  be  generous.     Holmes  says:  — 

"  Unblest  by  any  save  the  goat-herd's  lines, 
Mont  Blanc  rose  soaring  through  his  '  sea  of  pines.' 
In  vain  the  Arve  and  Arveiron  dash, 
No  hymn  salutes  them  but  the  Ranz  des  Yaches, 
Till  lazy  Coleridge,  by  the  morning's  light, 
Gazed  for  a  moment  on  the  fields  of  white, 
And  lo !  the  glaciers  found  at  length  a  tongue, 
Mont  Blanc  was  vocal,  and  Chamouni  sung  ! " 

But  the  truth  is,  they  had  found  a  tongue  before,  in  a  German 
piece,  to  which  "  lazy  Coleridge  "  was  too  lazy,  perhaps,  to 
own  his  obligation,  though  he  took  it,  not  only  in  spirit,  but 
bodily,  as  his  own, — the  massive  and  majestic  hymn  of  Frede- 
rika  Brunn.  We  will  try  to  give  an  idea  at  once  of  the  metre 
and  meaning  of  the  original. 

"  Up  from  the  fir-grove's  shadowy  silentness, 
Trembling  I  look  to  thee,  broAv  of  eternity, 
Dazzling  peak,  from  whose  lofty  summit, 
Yearning,  my  soul  to  the  Infinite  soareth ! 


18G0.]  Ot  rman  Hymns.  237 

•■  Who  planted  the  pillar  deep  Id  the  lap  of  earth, 
Firmly  upholding  thy  mass  these  ages  Long? 
Who  Lifted  high  in  the  vaulted  ether, 
Mighty  and  bold,  thy  beaming  countenance? 

'•Who  poured  you  down  from  old  Winter's  eternal  realm, 
()  jagged  torrents,  with  rumbling  thunder's  roar? 
And  who  commanded  loud,  with  voice  almighty, 
'  Here  shall  be  Btayed  the  stiffening  billows '  'J. 

••  Whose  Ginger  points  yon  star  of  the  morning  his  path? 

"Who  crowns  with  blossoms  the  rim  of  eternal  frost? 
Whose  name  sounds  out  in  terrible  harmonies, 
Through  the  din  of  thy  waters,  O  wild  Arveiron? 

ut Jehovah!  Jehovah!'  crashes  the  bursting  ice; 

Avalanche  thunders  roll  it  down  through  the  gorge. 
'Jehovah!'  sighs  in  the  rustling  tree-tops, — 
Whispers  in  murmuring  silver-brooklets." 

Few  of  our  readers,  perhaps,  are  fully  aware  how  much  our 
English  hymn-books  owe  to  the  German  Muse.  Not  to  speak 
of  our  indebtedness  to  the  Moravian  genius  for  Montgomery's 
sweet,  solemn,  and  stirring  strains,  and  to  Germany  for  the 
pieces  which  the  Wesleys  translated,  we  may  say  that  many 
of  the  pithiest  and  most  pregnant  lines  or  phrases  in  the  Meth- 
odist Collection,  those  which  are  best  remembered  for  com- 
bining meaning  and  melody,  are  of  German  extraction. 

There  is  a  piece  accredited  to  Bowring  in  Greenwood's  Col- 
lection, beginning, 

"The  heavenly  spheres  to  thee,  O  God, 
Attune  their  evening  hymn," 

which  is  really  a  translation,  in  a  slightly  changed  metre,  some- 
what more  llowing,  but  hardly  more  majestic,  from  the  German 
of  Matthison.    It  runs  thus :  — 

"  To  Thee,  Almighty  One,  ascends  the  spheral  hymn  ! 
To  Thee,  All-merciful,  the  song  of  seraphim  ! 
The  whole  creation  joins  in  praise  sublime  and  tender, 
Where  planets  roll,  and  Buns  pour  forth  eternal  splendor. 

"Thy  temple  Nature  is;  how  full,  0  heavenly  King! 
Of  thy  mild  majesty!  The  flowery  dress  of  Spring, 
The  Summer's  billowing  fields,  and  Autumn's  golden  hour, 

And  Winter's  silver  heights,  reflect  thy  glorious  power. 


238  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

"  Before  Thee  what  am  I  ?     Scarce  have  I  drawn  a  breath ; 
And  but  a  span  divides  my  trembling  flesh  from  death. 
Yet  joy  and  praise  !     The  soul,  its  peaceful  slumber  breaking, 
In  Thy  paternal  arms  shall  know  a  blessed  waking  ! " 

But  our  chief  indebtedness  to  German  Hymnology  is  not  so 
much  for  the  individual  pieces  with  which  it  has  enriched,  and 
is  yet  to  enrich,  our  sacred  treasury,  as  for  the  energy  with 
which  it  has  made  the  Christian  lyre  and  the  Gospel  trumpet 
quicken  that  devotion  to  faith  and  freedom,  that  sense  of  the 
soul's  immediate  relation  to  God  and  his  kingdom,  which,  long 
struggling  in  scattered  souls  through  ages  of  ecclesiastical  de- 
generacy, found  its  warmest  and  widest  welcome  at  last  on 
German  ground  and  in  the  German  heart. 

The  pioneer  (if  he  is  no  longer  the  prince)  of  popular  psal- 
mody was  Martin  Luther.  But  a  very  small  part  of  Luther's 
poetry  is  in  the  form  of  verse ;  almost  all  the  poetry  he  ever 
wrote  remains  in  those  picturesque  and  pungent  letters  of  his, 
in  his  commentaries  and  controversies,  in  his  sermons  and 
speeches  and  pithy  sayings.  In  these  you  see  Luther  the  poet, 
reminding  one  alternately  of  Burns,  of  Quarles,  and  of  Bunyan. 
Even  Luther  the  theologian  is  a  poet,  so  full  is  his  faith  of 
heartiness  and  imagination.  And  then  how  much  of  his  poetry 
never  was  written  at  all !  The  action  of  his  life  was  epic  poetry 
transcending  all  speech  ;  and  how  beautiful  a  pastoral  poetry  did 
he  make  out  with  his  flute,  his  fancy,  and  his  faith,  in  those 
charming  home  festivals,  and  in  his  garden  walks  and  talks 
with  his  children  !  What  little  verse,  however,  he  wrote,  may 
well  be  proudly  prized  by  his  countrymen,  and  revered  by  every 
Protestant  and  every  Christian,  not  only  for  its  intrinsic  energy, 
majesty,  and  harmony,  (qualities  especially  remarkable  when 
one  considers  that  Luther  was  breaking  ground  here  in  several 
respects  at  once,  that  this  spiritual  Hermann  had  to  conquer 
a  language  for  himself  as  well  as  a  faith,)  but  also  for  the  in- 
calculable impulse  and  inspiration  it  gave,  and  still  gives,  to 
faith  and  freedom,  even  where  the  peculiarities  of  his  creed 
are  rejected. 

It  was  many  years  before  Shakespeare  wrote  the  famous  pas- 
sage about  "  the  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself,"  when 
Luther  said :  "  There  is  no  doubt  that  many  seeds  of  splendid 


1800.]  German  Hymns. 

virtues  arc  to  be  found  in  such  souls  as  are  stirred  by  music  : 

and  tlieni  who  have  no  feeling  for  it  I  hold  no  better  than 
stocks  and  stones.  If  any  man  despises  music,  as  all  fanatics 
do,  for  him  1  have  no  liking.     For  music  is  a  gift  and  grace  of 

God,  not  an  invention  of  men.  Thus  it  expels  the  Devil  and 
makes  people  cheerful.  Then  one  forgets  all  wrath,  impurity, 
sycophancy,  and  other  vices.  Next  to  theology,"  —  that  was, 
with  Luther,  the  music  of  the  spheres,  —  "1  give  music  the 
highest  and  most  honorable  place  ;  and  every  one  knows  how 
David  and  all  saints  have  put  their  divine  thoughts  into  verse, 
rhyme,  and  song." 

We  may  say  that  there  were  three  reasons  that  set  Luther  to 
writing  hymns:  first,  his  native  fondness  for  music  ;  secondly, 
the  example  of  that  Psalmist  to  whose  writings  similarity  in 
inward  trial,  and  sympathy  of  nature,  directed  him  for  solace  ; 
and  thirdly,  his  sense  of  the  necessity  of  sacred  song  to  bind 
his  unchurched  followers  into  a  free  church  of  the  spirit. 

This  was  one  of  the  few  things  he  envied  the  Ilomish 
Church,  —  its  majestic  minstrelsy.  A  number  of  the  grand  old 
Latin  hymns  he  translated  (not  without  some  natural  dissatis- 
faction with  the  result,  for  he  missed  the  Roman  majesty  of 
utterance) ;  but  the  new  experience,  the  new  events,  of  the  age, 
required  that  men  should  "  sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song." 
Often  he  took  the  popular  melodies  of  the  day  and  furnished 
them  with  new  words,  as  when  we  sing  "  There  is  a  land  of 
pure  delight"  to  "  Auld  Lang  Syne,"  or  Kirk  White's  "  Star 
of  Bethlehem  "  to  "  Bonnie  Doon."  Sometimes  he  parodied, 
or  "  Christianly  altered,"  the  text  of  the  old  song  itself.  Thus 
the  old  ditty  — 

"  O  thou  naughty  Judas  ! 
What  hast  thou  done, 
To  betray  our  Master, 
<  lod'a  only  Son  ! 
Therefore  must  thou  saner 
Hell's  agony, 
Lucifer's  companion 
Must  forever  be. 

Kyrie  eleison  !  "  — 

suggested  to  Luther  the  following :  — 


240  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

"  'T  was  our  great  transgression 
And  our  sore  misdeed 
Made  the  Lord  our  Saviour 
On  the  cross  to  bleed. 
Not  then,  on  thee,  poor  Judas, 
Nor  on  that  Jewish  crew, 
Our  vengeance  dare  we  visit,  — 
We  are  to  blame,  not  you. 
Kyrie  eleison  ! 

"  All  hail  to  thee,  Christ  Jesus, 
Who  hungest  on  the  tree, 
And  bor'st  for  our  transgressions 
Both  shame  and  agony. 
Now  beside  thy  Father, 
Reignest  thou  on  high  ;  — 
Bless  us  all  our  lifetime, 
Take  us  when  we   die  ! 
Kyrie  eleison  ! " 

But  the  greatest  service  Luther  did  in  this  department  was 
where  he  furnished  both  the  hymn  and  the  tune,  as,  indeed,  it 
was  a  favorite  theory  among  the  Reformers,  that  the  poet  and 
composer  should  be  one  and  the  same  person.  When  the 
Holy  Spirit  gives  any  one  a  song,  they  said,  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  he  will  give  the  melody,  too.  In  some  cases,  for  instance 
"Old  Hundred"  and  ".Monmouth,"  Luther's  music  outlived 
his  words. 

We  have  in  all  only  thirty-eight  hymns  by  Luther, —  a  small 
number  compared  with  Wesley's  thousands  ;  they  are  to  be 
weighed,  however,  not  counted,  and  weighed  too  in  the  scales 
of  an  historian's  and  a  Christian  believer's  living  sympathy. 

These  are  the  words  of  Spangcnberg,  in  his  Preface  to  the 
"  Cithara  Lutheri  "  :  — 

"  One  must  certainly,"  he  says,  "  let  this  be  true  and  remain  true, 
that,  among  all  Meister-singers,  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  until 
now,  Lutherus  is  and  always  will  be  the  best  and  most  accomplished ; 
in  whose  hymns  and  songs  one  does  not  find  a  vain  or  needless  word. 
All  flows  and  falls  in  the  sweetest  and  neatest  manner,  full  of  spirit  and 
doctrine,  so  that  his  every  word  gives  outright  a  sermon  of  its  own,  or, 
at  least,  a  singular  reminiscence.  There  is  nothing  forced,  nothing 
foisted  in  or  patched  up,  nothing  fragmentary.  The  rhymes  are  easy 
and  good,  the  words  choice  and  proper,  the  meaning  clear  and  intelli- 


I860.]  German  Hymns.  241 

gible,  the  melodies  lovely  and  hearty,  and.  in  tumma,  all  is  bo  rare  and 
majestic,  >o  full  of  pith  and  power,  bo  cheering  and  comforting,  that,  in 
sooth,  you  will  not  find  his  equal,  much  Less  his  master." 

This  was  written  in  1545.  And  in  1845  the  editor  of 
Luther's  Hymn- Hook  ends  his  Preface  :  "  And  now  go  forth, 
thou  fine  little  book,  and  show  the  German  people  how  their 
greatest  hymnist  believed,  prayed,  and  sang." 

To  this  Ilymn-Book  Luther  himself  gave  a  "  Preface  for  all 
good  Ilymn-Books,"  as  he  calls  it,  headed  "  Frau  Musica" 
(hardly  a  translatable  phrase,  which  we  may  paraphrase  the 
Goddess  of  Music'),  in  whose  name  it  was  to  be  supposed 
spoken.  It  runs  thus,  and  we  give  it  in  full,  because  we  be- 
lieve it  has  never  been  before  Englished  :  — 

"  Far  before  all  earthly  pleasures 
You  will  find  these  heavenly  measures, 
Which  1  give  you  with  my  singing, 
And  instruments  harmonious  ringing. 
No  evil  mind  can  there  intrude, 
\    here  men  sing  in  cheerful  mood; 
No  envy,  hate,  nor  wrath  can  stay, — 
Sorrow  must  rise  and  haste  away ; 
No  flinty  greed,  nor  wrinkled  care, 
Nor  sullenness  can  tarry  there. 
And  every  one  is  sure  of  this, 
Such  pleasure  nothing  sinful  is, 
But  pleases  God  himself  tenfold 
More  than  earth's  other  joys  all  told. 
It  interrupts  the  Devil's  work, 
When  in  the  heart  foul  murders  lurk: 
And  this  King  David  well  can  prove, 
"Whose  good,  sweet  harping  olttimes  drove 
The  evil  spirit  out  of  Saul 
"When  he  on  murderous  thoughts  would  fall. 
It  makes  the  heart  composed  and  still 
»      To  entertain  God's  word  and  will. 
So  Eliseus  found  it  too, 
"Whose  harp  to  him  the  Spirit  drew. 
It  is  the  year's  best  time  to  me 
When  all  the  birds  make  melody  : 
They  Beam  to  (ill  all  heaven  and  earth 
With  sounds  of  music  and  of  mirth; 
And  chief  of  all.  the  Nightingale, 
"With  her  enchanting  Bong,  I  hail, 
VOL.  LXIX.  —  5th  S.  VOL.  VII.  NO.  II.  21 


242  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

Who  breathes  o'er  all  her  joy  and  bliss  ; 

Thanks  must  she  ever  have  for  this, 

And  He,  the  dear  Lord  God,  much  more, 

Who  made  her  so  that  she,  before 

All  other  songstresses,  should  be 

A  mistress  of  sweet  minstrelsy. 

To  Him,  all  day  and  all  night  long 

She  sits  and  sings  with  tireless  song. 

Him,  too,  my  song  shall  ever  praise 

And  bless  and  thank  through  endless  days  !  " 

One  does  not  readily  imagine  now  what  a  hold  Luther's 
little  army  of  hymns  must  have  taken  on  the  people's  heart. 
The  new  faith  was  not  only  a  new  doctrine,  but  a  new  song. 
God,  says  Luther,  is  calling  on  all  the  earth  to  sing  a  new 
song,  and  whoso  will  not  join  therein  shows  that  he  believes 
not  into  the  new,  joyous  Testament,  but  under  the  old,  lazy, 
unsocial  Testament  of  the  Jews  and  the  Pope. 

Hardly  any  of  Luther's  hymns  are  much  known  in  English, 
except  the  one  suggested  by  the  46th  Psalm,  the  famous  "  Mar- 
seillaise of  the  Reformation,"  as  Heine  called  it, — 

"  A  tower  of  refuge  is  our  God," — 

which  has  again  and  again  been  translated.  We  have  room 
for  only  a  specimen  or  two  of  the  style,  structure,  and  spirit  of 
this  class  of  his  compositions. 

Almost  every  one  is  familiar  with  those  majestic  stanzas, 
quoted  in  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reformation,  and  often 
before,  beginning,  — 

"  Flung  to  the  heedless  winds, 
Or  on  the  waters  cast, 
Their  ashes  shall  be  watched 
And  gathered  at  the  last." 

They  profess  to  be  a  translation  from  a  hymn  written  by 
Luther  on  the  burning  of  two  martyrs  at  Brussels,  in  1523. 
They  form,  indeed,  in  themselves  and  by  themselves,  though 
only  a  fragment,  a  sweet  and  soul-stirring  poem.  They  speak 
to  the  heart  like  a  trumpet.  But  it  is  not  just  the  trumpet 
Luther  blew.  It  is  a  little  more  silvery  than  that  was.  To 
change  the  figure,  these  lines  (which  are  rather  a  transfusion 
than  a  translation)  represent  their  original  somewhat  as  do 


I860.]  German  Hymns.  243 

those  ideal  pictures  of  places  painted  after  a  lapse  of  time  by 
artists  of  genius,  and  called  memories.  We  can  only  hope  to 
give,  ourselves,  a  hint  of  the  picture  and  the  music  ;  indeed,  it 
seems  impossible  to  combine  in  our  modern  speech  the  strong, 

antique  simplicity  of  the  original,  with  its  singular  melody  and 
harmony. 

It  was  in  the  very  autumn  when  Hans  Sachs,  who  sat  heat- 
ing time  on  his  lapstone  to  the  music  of  the  blessed  revival, 
came  forth  with  his  "Nightingale,"  —  who,  soaring  above  the 
clouds,  announces  the  return  of  day  to  a  world  so  long  slum- 
bering in  darkness,  or  walking  in  a  dim,  dubious,  malignant 
lunar  light,  —  that  Luther,  hearing  of  the  good  confession  the 
two  Augustinian  monks  had  witnessed  at  Brussels,  sent  forth 
his  hymn  with  a  letter  to  the  churches  in  those  parts,  in  the 
beginning  of  which  he  says  that  the  word  is  fulfilled  again: 
"  The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth ;  the  time  of  the  singing  of 
birds  is  come,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard  in  the  land." 

The  hymn,  consisting  of  over  a  hundred  lines,  begins :  — 

"  A  brave  new  song  aloud  we  sing, 

To  tell  the  wondrous  story. 
What  God  hath  done,  our  Lord  and  King, 

And  sound  his  praise  and  glory. 
At  Brussels,  down  in  Netherland, 

The  Lord  of  gifts  and  graces 
Hath  well  revealed  his  mighty  hand, 

By  two  young  boys,  whose  faces 

Now  shine  in  heavenly  placi 

Then,  after  detailing,  in  precisely  this  measure,  the  particu- 
lar- of  the  trial,  condemnation,  and  execution,  it  concludes 
with  the  stanzas  which  we  referred  to  as  having  been  so  freely 
paraphrased,  and  which  somewhat  literally  run  as  follows  :  — 

"  Their  ashes  will  not  rest;  world-wide 

They  fly  through  every  nation. 
No  cave  nor  grave,  no  tain  nor  tide, 

Can  hide  the  abomination. 
They  whom  the  t'oe  with  murderous  flame 

Had  burnt  to  death,  —  upspringing, 
Lol  in  his  ears  they  shout  his  shame. 

Till  every  land  is  ringing 

With  their  triumphant  singing. 


244  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

"  Let  Satan's  lie  go  round,  —  't  is  vain  ; 

Soon  all  his  arts  shall  fail  him ; 
God,  in  His  Word,  hath  come  again,  — 

With  thankful  hearts  we  '11  hail  Him. 
Hard  by  stands  Summer  at  the  door  ; 

Grim  Winter's  chain  is  broken  ; 
The  tender  flowers  put  forth  once  more  : 

These  things  His  hand  betoken 

Who  '11  do  what  he  hath  spoken." 

With  one  more  specimen  we  shall  pass  on :  — 

"A    HYMN  FOR    THE    CHILDREN,    WHEREWITH    THEY   CAST    OUT    THE 
POPE   IN    MID-LENT. 

"  We  drive  the  Pope  with  iron  rod 
From  church  of  Christ  and  house  of  God, 
Where  he  has  murderously  ruled, 
And  many  precious  souls  befooled. 

"  Pack  off,  begone,  apostate  son  ! 
Thou  scarlet  bride  of  Babylon  ! 
Thou  art  the  Beast  and  Antichrist, 
Whose  lies  have  many  a  soul  enticed. 

«  Thy  Bulls  and  thy  Decretals  lie 
All  sealed  and  hid  from  every  eye, 
That  robbed  the  world  in  God's  own  name 
And  put  Christ's  blood  to  open  shame. 

"  The  Romish  Dagon  's  lost  his  head, 
The  rightful  Pope  we  take  instead  : 
*T  is  Christ,  the  Rock,  God's  only  Son, 
Whom  His  true  Church  is  built  upon. 

"  High  Priest  o'er  all  is  he,  Lord  Christ, 
Who  on  the  cross  was  sacrificed  ; 
His  blood  flowed  freely  for  our  sin, 
His  wounds  the  true  indulgence  win. 

"  The  Church  obeys  his  Word's  behest, 
Him  God  the  Father  doth  invest ; 
The  Head  of  Christendom  is  he  : 
Praised  be  his  name  eternally. 

"  Now  summer  time  will  soon  appear ; 
Christ  send  us  all  a  peaceful  year  ! 
Lord,  save  us  from  the  Pope  and  Turk, 
And  finish  all  thy  blessed  work !  " 


1800.]  German  Hymns.  245 

There  are,  of  course,  some  among  these  holy  songs  of  the 
R  brmers,  both  of  Luther  and  of  his  followers, which  cannot, 
in  any  proper  sense,  he  called  hymns,  being  simple  versifica- 
tions of  creed  and  commandment.  Even  these,  however,  are 
not  without  a  certain  poetic  interest  and  inspiration,  to  one  who 
considers  what  news  even  the  old  truths  of  Scripture  were  to 
a  newly  awakened  people,  whose  tongue  was  just  being  loosed, 
as  well  as  it>  ears  unstopped.  Far  otherwise  was  it  when,  as 
the  -lowing  faith  cooled  and  crystallized  into  creed,  and  Prot- 
estantism had  organized  itself  and  grew  to  a  church  and  state 
affair,  and  hymn-writing  became  a  technical  business;  then 
ill--  substitution  of  rhymed  homilies,  or  versified  controversial 
sermons,  or  doggerel  anathemas,  for  the  true  hymn  —  the  voice 
of  praise,  the  breathing  after  rest,  the  sinking  of  the  soul  into 
God  —  became  a  grievous  impertinence  and  a  gross  imposition. 
Of  this  work  there  was  more  than  enough  in  Germany  during 
the  century  following  Luther.  No  wonder  that  it  provoked  a 
reaction  in  the  direction  of  that  mysticism  and  quietism,  which 
at  length  found  a  local  habitation  and  a  name  in  the  Moravian 
communion. 

John  Schefiler  of  Silesia  (self-styled  Angelus  Silesius,  "  a 
Papal  angel,"  says  an  old  writer,  "  but  a  good  one  ")  lived  from 
1(3^4-77.  His  parents  were  Lutheran,  but  weariness  of  the 
word-warfare  and  the  sword-warfare  of  the  times,  —  of  dryness 
in  the  fold  to  which  he  belonged, and  distraction  and  distress  in 
the  world  without  (it  was  the  time  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War), 
—  impelled  him  to  take  refuge  in  mysticism  and  finally  in  Cathol- 
icism, where,  as  Gcrvinus  suggests,  his  mystical  theosophy  could 
find  more  comfort  than  among  the  argus-eyed  Lutheran  theo- 
logucs  of  his  time.  He,  too,  was  one  of  the  class  of  whom  Jean 
Paul  says  :  "  They  were  educated  to  be  physicians,  but  the  Spirit 
said,  '  There  are  deeper  wounds  than  those  of  the  body,'  and  so 
they  became  authors."  lie  wrote  six  books  of  rhymed  epigrams, 
entitled,  "  The  Cherubic  Pilgrim  of  John  Angelus  Silesius,  or 
Spiritual  Sentences  and  Aphorisms  in  Verse,  a  Guide  to  Divine 
Contemplation."  lie  also  wrote  "  Spiritual  Songs  of  the  Psyche 
in  Love  with  her  Jesus,"  of  which  these  verses  may  serve  as  a 
sample :  — 

21* 


246  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

"  Nothing  fair  on  earth  I  see, 
But  it  straightway  shows  to  me 
Jesus  Christ,  my  fairest  star, 
Source  of  all  fair  things  that  are. 


"  Sweetly  m  the  garden-beds 
Stately  lilies  lift  their  heads ; 
But  than  they  far  higher-priced 
Is  my  Lily,  Jesus  Christ. 

"  When  I  to  the  fountain  go, 
When  I  watch  the  brooklet's  flow  : 
Of  that  purest  fount  I  think, 
In  his  tide  of  love  I  sink. 

"  When  I  see  the  flocks  go  by, 
Inwardly  my  heart  doth  sigh : 
Ah !  God's  Lamb,  how  mild  is  he, 
Who,  as  Bridegroom,  weddeth  me. 

"  Sweetly  sings  the  nightingale, 
Sweet  the  flute-tones  down  the  vale ; 
But  of  tones  the  sweetest  one 
Is  the  title,  Mary's  Son  !  " 

There  is  one  hymn  of  Scheffler's,  —  suggested  apparently  by 
that  touching  passage  in  Augustine's  Confessions,  "  Too  late 
have  I  come  to  love  thee,  0  thou  beauty,  so  ancient  and  yet  so 
new,  too  late  have  I  come  to  love  thee!" — which  is  in  the 
very  finest  vein  of  the  mystic  piety  and  poesy.     He  sings :  — 

"  Alas  that  I  not  earlier  knew  Thee, 
Whom  no  man  ever  fully  knows ! 
That  I  not  earlier  clave  unto  Thee, 
Thou  highest  bliss  and  true  repose  ! 

0  how  my  heart  with  sorrow  burns, 
That  it  so  late  to  love  Thee  learns ! 

"  I  went  astray  in  passion's  mazes, 

1  sought,  but  found  Thee  not ;  — my  sight 
Was  dazed  with  earthly  glory's  blazes, 
Enamored  of  created  light. 

But  now  at  length,  all  praise  to  Thee  ! 
Through  faith  Thy  beauteous  face  I  see. 


I860.]  G<  man  Hymns.  247 

"  True  Sun,  I  tliank  thee,  that  hast  given 
The  glorious  lighl  of  truth  to  me  ; 
I  thank  thee,  holy  joy  <>t'  Heaven, 
That  thou  hast  made  me  glad  and  free; 

I  thank  thee.  ()  thou  Power  Divine, 

That  kindlest  this  new  life  of  mine 

There  was,  indeed,  a  noble  band  of  holy  singers,  even  in  this 
troublous  time,  who  lived  above  the  world  and  vet  in  it,  —  whose 
spirits  were  so  finely  tempered  in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  that 
their  expression  was  only  chastened  into  a  calm  serenity,  and 
all  their  strains  expressed  the  feeling  and  taught  the  lesson  that 
faith  and  piety  towards  God  are  most  truly  proved  by  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  his  daily  gifts,  and  devotion  to  daily  duty ;  and  the 
chief  of  these,  and  a  name  justly  dearer  to  the  German  heart 
than  that  of  any  other  save  Luther,  in  the  crowded  annals  of 
Ilynmology,  was  Paul  Gerhardt.  He  lived  from  1606-76. 
The  zeal  with  which,  in  the  pulpit,  he  plunged  into  the  theo- 
logical contest  between  Lutheran  and  Calvinist,  and  the  perse- 
cution he  suffered,  had  no  power  to  embitter  the  hopeful  flow 
of  his  daily  inner  or  outer  life. 

Gerhardt's  hymns  are  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  the  most  cheer- 
ful and  healthy  piety,  —  a  piety  which  shows  itself  not  merely 
in  direct  devotion  to  God  and  to  Christ,  but  in  a  pure  and 
childlike  love  of  nature,  and  good-will  towards  men.  They 
exemplify  Coleridge's  lines  :  — 

"  He  prayeth  best  who  lovcth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  dear  God  "who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 

They  have  the  homely  simplicity  of  Luther's,  and  a  strength 
like  his,  if  not  quite  equal  to  it,  with  a  versatility,  smoothness, 
and  literary  finish  not  to  be  found  in  Luther's,  and  unsurpassed 
in  any  period  of  German  Ilynmology. 

Gerhardt  has  been  well  described  as  one  of  a  class  in  whom 
Christianity  appears,  not  in  contradistinction  to  humanity,  but 
as  humanity  itself,  in  its  most  genuine  form.  The  critic  who 
says  this  contrasts  Gerhardt's  unpreoccupied  enjoyment  and 
celebration  of  God's  natural  world  with  Luther's  way  of  using 
in  psalmody  these  familiar  things,    lie  says,  "  Even  when  Luther 


248  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

composes  a  child's  hymn,  it  rings  out  from  the  mighty  man's 
breast  like  a  trumpet-toned  choral."  There  are  only  two  of 
Gerhardt's  pieces  that  have  become  domesticated  among  us. 
The  one  is  the  ardent  apostrophe  to  Jesus,  beginning, 

"  O  head,  so  gashed  and  bleeding, 

With  scorn  and  shame  bowed  down  ! 
O  head  for  sinners  pleading 

Beneath  that  thorny  crown  ! 
O  head,  erewhile  adorned 

With  grace  and  majesty, 
Now  mocked,  reviled,  and  scorned, 

My  greetings  rise  to  thee ! "  — 

being  a  paraphrase  of  a  Latin  hymn  of  St.  Bernard's,  which 
forms  the  conclusion  of  a  series  of  seven,  addressed  successively 
to  the  feet,  knees,  hands,  side,  breast,  heart,  and  face  of  the 
dying  Christ.  The  other,  which  has  also  been  several  times 
translated,  is  the  one  on  submission,  beginning, 

"  Commit  to  him  thy  trouble," 

and  has  this  quaintness  in  its  structure,  that  it  is  a  sort  of 
acrostic,  consisting  of  just  as  many  stanzas  as  there  are  words, 
in  the  German,  of  the  text,  "  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord ; 
trust  also  in  Him,  and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass,"  —  each  word 
beginning  a  stanza. 

We  give  a  hymn  which  shows  his  piety  in  a  more  familiar 
play,  and  which,  whatever  may  be  said  of  it  as  a  lyric,  is  cer- 
tainly a  noble  compend  of  life- wisdom  :  — 

"  Thou  know'st  full  well  thou  art  a  man ; 

Then  wherefore  shouldst  thou  strive 
For  things  which  only  God's  wise  plan 

Both  can  and  will  contrive  V 
With  purblind  wit  and  stubborn  will 
Through  thousand  cares  thou  gropest  still, 

Forever  wondering, 

What  will  to-morrow  bring  ? 

"  Lift  up  thy  head,  see  everywhere, 
Around  thee  and  above, 
The  tokens  of  thy  Father's  care, 
His  all-providing  love. 


I860.]  German  Hymns.  249 

Thy  bread,  bed,  clothes,  irere  ready  here 
Before  thou  didsl  on  earth  appear; 

The  milk  awaited  thee 

That  nursed  thy  infancy. 

"And  yet,  forsooth,  thy  feeble  Bight 

Must  be  life's  guide  for  thee  ! 
Thou  hast  no  faith  in  higher  liirlit 

Than  what  thine  eye-  can  see. 
Whatever  thou  purposed  to  do, 
Thy  blear-eyed  sense  must  carry  through  ; 

What  that  directs  is  wil 

All  else  thou  dost  despise. 


For  wilful  passion's  Bake, 
Because  thy  vain  and  foolish  thought 

Did  death  for  lite  mistake  ! 
And  had,  then,  God  hut  let  be  done 
What  thou  hadst  purposed  and  begun, 

Thy  folly  long  ago 

Had  wrought  thy  overthrow. 

11  But  God  clears  up  what  we  perplex, 

His  love  makes  plain  the  way  ; 
He  cheers  us  when  our  souls  we  vex, 

And  guides  us  when  we  stray. 
For  He  is  faithful,  good,  and  kind, 
And  bears  a  Father's  heart  and  mind, 

And  us  poor  silly  sheep 

From  ruin's  brink  will  keep. 

"  How  oft  He  hides  himself,  and  still 

In  silence  works  our  good, 
While  we,  with  wayward  heart  and  will, 

Go  on  in  sullen  mood, 
Seek  here  and  there,  and  nothing  find, 
Because  our  pride  has  made  us  blind, 

And  vainly  strive  to  tear 

Our  feet  from  out  the  snare ! 

"  But  God  all-wise  makes  straight  his  ways, 
More  sure  if  not  so  short ; 
The  storm  he  lulls,  the  wind  he  lays, 

And  brings  us  safe  to  port. 
And  then,  when  all  is  done  and  past, 

Then  feeble  man  can  Bee  at  last, 

How  wise  the  Father's  thought, 
How  kindly  God  hath  wrought. 


250  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

"  Then,  heart,  take  courage,  hope  the  best ! 

Let  care  and  fretting  be  : 
God  has  a  heart  that  will  not  rest 

In  planning  good  for  thee. 
He  cannot  hate  thee,  —  no,  nor  yet, 
Believe  me,  can  thy  God  forget ! 

Let  this  quell  every  fear,  — 

To  God  each  child  is  dear. 

"  Do  like  a  child,  and  lean  and  rest 

Upon  thy  Father's  arm  ; 
Pour  out  thy  troubles  on  his  breast, 

And  thou  shalt  know  no  harm  ; 
Then  shalt  thou  by  his  hand  be  brought 
On  ways  which  now  thou  knowest  not, 

Up  through  a  well-fought  fight, 

To  heavenly  peace  and  light." 

The  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  marked  by  a 
revival  of  emotional  religion  from  the  old  formalism  into  which 
Lutheranism  had  degenerated,  corresponding  to  the  little  later 
Methodist  movement  in  England,  creating  the  so-called  pietistic 
period,  and  bringing  forward  a  new  school  of  hymn-writers. 
The  foremost  of  these,  chronologically,  and  one  who  stands  as 
a  middle  point  between  the  Mystic  and  the  Moravian  periods, 
is  Benjamin  Schmolke,  who  lived  from  1672-1737,  "  a  truly 
pious,  much-tried  shepherd  of  souls,  of  eminent  poetic  gifts, 
with  which  he  edified  and  blessed  many.  He  wrote  more  than 
a  thousand  hymns  ;  —  hence  many  less  successful  ones  came 
from  his  pen.  But  not  a  few  of  them  have  a  quite  peculiar 
depth  and  warmth  and  an  imperishable  worth. "  So  says  my 
Evangelical  authority.  Gervinus,  the  historian  of  German 
poetry,  who  is  a  little  of  what  the  Germans  call  a  Philistine, 
speaks  of  Schmolke  somewhat  contemptuously,  —  with  what 
justice  we  leave  to  be  inferred  from  two  specimens  which  we 
shall  presently  give.  He  seems  to  be  fond  of  pithy,  proverbial 
verses.     One  of  his  hymns  begins  :  — 

"  My  life  is  where  my  love  is  ; 
I  am,  where  I  am  not ; 
My  home  in  heaven  above  is, 

There  dwells  my  every  thought." 

Another  runs :  — 


I860.]  Gi  rman  Hymns.  251 

'•Mr  to-day,  to-morrow  thee  I 

This  i>  what  the  bells  arc  ringing, 
When  the  dead,  in  Borrow,  we 

To  the  field  of  God  are  bringing. 
Graves  !  ye  murmur  solemnly, 
Me  to-day,  —  to-morrow  the    '" 

Montgomery's  hymn,  beginning, 

"  Goto  dark  Gethsemane," 

would  seem  to  have  been  suggested  by  one  of  Schmolke's,  of 
which  this  is  the  first  stanza  :  — 

"  Go,  in  thought,  to  Golgotha, 

Christian  !  whore  thy  Saviour  bleedeth  I 
Take  to  heart  each  pang  that,  there, 

With  thy  cruel  coldness  pleadeth. 
Hard  as  rock  thy  heart  must  be, 
It'  thou  this  unmoved  canst  see." 

In  the  two  specimens  of  his  hymns  which  we  present  entire, 
we  cannot  presume  to  preserve  the  neat  finish  and  flow  of  the 
original,  but  only  the  exact  thought,  a  good  degree  of  the 
spirit,  and  a  fac-simile  of  the  structure  of  the  verse. 

"AT  LAST! 

"Yes.  at  last,  our  God  shall  make 
Blessed  end  of  pain  and  sorrow; 
Time's  hard  yoke,  at  last,  shall  break; 
Dawn,  at  last,  that  endless  morrow, 
"When  the  angel-reapers  come 
Bringing  Heaven's  bright  harvest  home. 

11  Canaan's  fields  shall  smile  at  last, 
Egypt's  bondage  left  behind  us  ; 
When  »>'er  OUvet  we  've  passed, 

Tabor's  heights,  at  last,  shall  find  us  ; 
Sorrow's  midnight  shades  withdrawn, 
Freedom's  day  at  last  shall  dawn. 

"  Precious  words  I  at  last  !  at  last  ! 
All  our  crosses  J  e  can  sweeten  : 
Life's  tree  si  reams  shall  llow  full  Past, 

When  His  rod  the  rock  hath  smitten. 
Courage,  heart  !   thy  doubts  be  dumb! 

For  '  at  lasl  '  shall  surely  come  ! " 


252  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

«  HOLD  ON !  HOLD  IX  !  HOLD  OUT  ! 

"  Hold  o??,  my  heart,  in  thy  believing ! 
The  steadfast  only,  wins  the  crown. 
He  who,  when  stormy  waves  are  heaving, 
Parts  with  his  anchor,  shall  go  down ; 
But  he  who  Jesus  holds  through  all 
Shall  stand,  though  earth  and  heaven  should  fall. 

"  Hold  in  thy  murmurs,  Heaven  arraigning ! 
The  patient  sees  God's  loving  face  ; 
Who  bear  their  burdens  uncomplaining, 
'T  is  they  that  win  the  Father's  grace  ; 
He  wounds  himself  who  braves  the  rod, 
And  sets  himself  to  fight  with  God. 

"  Hold  out !     There  comes  an  end  to  sorrow : 
Hope,  from  the  dust,  shall  conquering  rise  ; 
The  storm  foretells  a  sunnier  morrow ; 
The  cross  points  on  to  Paradise. 
The  Father  reigneth  ;  cease  all  doubt ; 
Hold  on,  my  heart,  hold  in,  hold  out !  " 

The  sweetest  singer  of  this  school  or  period,  in  whom  it  may- 
be said  to  have  culminated,  is  one  whom  we  have  already 
mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  our  paper,  Gerhardt  Terstee- 
gen,  —  familiarly  known,  in  his  day  at  least,  as  "  Father  Ter- 
steegen,"  —  a  Westphalian  ribbon-weaver,  who  lived  from  1697 
to  1769.  He  is  the  author  of  a  beautiful  hymn,  which  has 
been  several  times  translated,  but  not  so  as  to  represent  the 
liveliness  of  the  thought  and  of  the  song :  — 

"  Come,  children,  let 's  be  going ; 

The  night  steals  on  apace, 
'T  is  dangerous  longer  staying 

Here  in  this  lonely  place. 
Come,  gird  your  loins  around ; 

From  strength  to  strength  ascending, 

Courageously  contending, 
To  life  eternal  bound. 

"  The  way  shall  not  appall  us, 

Though  narrow,  rough,  and  steep  ; 
For  heavenly  voices  call  us 

The  upward  path  to  keep. 
Arise  and  follow  them  ! 

Trustful,  all  else  forgetting, 

His  face  each  pilgrim  setting 
Full  toward  Jerusalem. 


18G0.]  G(  rman  IL/mns.  258 

"  Conic,  children  !  lei  us  onward  ; 
The  Father  with  as  goea ; 
His  arms  >hall  guard  the  vanward 

osl  our  fiercest 
With  him  to  guide  and  cheer, 
Hia  love  like  sunshine  o'er  us, 
His  truth  a  >hield  before  us, 
O  what  have  we  to  tear  ! 

"  Move  on,  serene  and  solemn, 
To  the  Commander's  word  : 

Behold  the  fiery  column, 

The  presence  of  the  Lord  ! 
15c  linn  each  step  and  eye. 

Who  follows  Him,  unshrinking, 

Shall  find,  in  death  when  sinking. 
Escape  and  triumph  nigh. 

"  Come,  each  one  eheer  his  brother  ! 

As  pilgrims,  hand  in  hand, 
Rejoicing  in  each  other, 

We  tread  this  foreign  land. 
Come,  show  a  childlike  love, 

All  wayside  >t riti-s  forbearing  ! 

Angels  unseen  are  sharing 
Our  march  toward  realms  above. 

"  And  if,  by  foes  surrounded, 

A  feeble  brother  fall, 
Lift  up  the  weak  and  wounded, 

Ye  strong !  —  then  rally  all, 
Close  up  your  ranks  for  God ! 

Strive  each  to  be  the  lowliest, 

And  yet  to  be  the  holiest, 
In  this  our  pilgrim  road. 

"  It  will  not  last  much  longer,  — 

Wait,  brothers,  patiently ! 
It  will  not  be  much  longer, 

Ere  we  our  home  shall  see. 
There  will  be  endless  rest, 

When  witli  the  saints  we  gather 

At  home  around  the  Father;  — 
How  blest  the  hour,  —  how  blest  !  " 

Before  taking  leave  of  the  hymns  of  Germany  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century  with  these  few,  meagre  glimpses,  we  would 
vol.  lxix.  —  5th  s.  vol.  VII.  NO.  II.  22 


254  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

say  a  word  of  a  sweet  hymn  of  the  widest  popularity,  which 
undoubtedly  comes  to  us  from  that  century,  and  probably,  in 
part  at  least,  from  that  country.  We  mean  the  one  beginning, 
in  our  common  version, 

"  Jerusalem,  iny  happy  home." 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  this,  like  so  many  other  hymns  of  the 
mystics,  was  inspired  by  the  musical  meditations  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, who  says,  in  prose  that  has  not  only  rhythm,  but  even 
rhyme,  in  the  original,  "  0  holy  city,  beauteous  city,  from  afar 
I  salute  thee,  I  cry  to  thee,  I  long  for  thee.  For  I  desire  to 
see  thee  and  to  rest  in  thee,  but  I  am  not  suffered  to,  being 
detained  by  the  flesh." 

We  have  not,  however,  succeeded  in  tracing  the  hymn  any 
farther  back  than  to  the  German  of  Meyfart,  who  was  born  in 
1590,  and  in  whose  version  it  runs  somewhat  as  follows :  — 

"  Jerusalem,  thou  high-built,  fair  abode  ! 

"Would  God  I  were  in  thee  ! 
My  yearning  heart  grows  weary  of  this  road, 

And  is  no  more  with  me. 
On  wings  of  faith  it  cleaveth 

The  cloudless  upper  air, 
And  far  behind  it  leaveth 

This  world  of  toil  and  care. 

"  O  beauteous  day  !  and  hour  more  beauteous  still  ! 

When  wilt  thou  come  and  shine  ? 
And  I,  while  joy  and  praise  my  bosom  fill, 

This  yearning  soul  of  mine, 
A  chosen  pledge,  deliver 

Into  God's  faithful  hand, 
That  it  may  dwell  forever 

In  Heaven,  its  native  land  ? 

"  O  honored  seat !  my  spirit  greeteth  thee  ! 

Unbar  the  gate  of  grace  ! 
How  long  my  soul  hath  yearned  thy  walls  to  see, 

And  find  in  thee  a  place, 
To  quit  this  world's  vexation 

And  all  its  vanity, 
And  hail  the  great  salvation 

My  God  hath  kept  for  me  ! 

"  What  countless  tribes,  what  troops  of  shining  ones. 
Pour  forth  from  out  thy  streets  ! 


I860.]  German  Hymns,  -5o 

All  that  from  earth  went  up,  God'fl  choseD  sons, 

To  take  their  heavenly  Beats, 
Come  with  the  crown,  to  meet  me, 

And  take  me  by  the  hand, 

Anil  on  my  journey  greet  me 
II tine  from  that  tearful  Land. 

••  Prophets  august,  Apostles  throned  on  high, 

Mart}  rs,  a  countless  host. 
And  all  that  bore  tin-  cross  in  agony, 

Mocked  by  the  tyrant's  boast, 
I  see,  above  there,  shining 

In  freedom's  glorious  light, 
While  round  each  brow  is  twining 

A  garland  starry  bright. 

"  O  when  I  reach  at  length  that  Paradise, 

And  climb  that  heavenly  hill, 
"What  sights  of  beauty  then  shall  meet  my  eyes, 

What  praise  my  mouth  shall  fill  ! 
What  loud  hosannas  blending 

Shall  fire  my  ravished  soul! 
Through  ages  never  ending 

What  hallelujahs  roll!" 

When  we  speak  of  the  Moravian  Ilymnology,  we  use  the 
word  with  some  latitude,  signifying  by  it,  not  merely  the  hymns 
which  have  been  written  by  professed  Moravians,  but  that  large 
class  which  the  Moravian  faith  and  feeling,  manifested  in  so 
many  quarters  long  before  their  brotherhood  was  organized, 
inspired.  At  the  same  time  the  Moravians  have  a  prolific 
h\ 'innist  of  their  own, —  no  less  a  man  than  the  founder  of  their 
order,  Count  Zinzcndorf  himself.  Born  in  1700,  he  was  god- 
son of  the  famous  old  mystic,  Spener,  and  early  a  pupil  of  the 
hardly  less  celebrated  "  hero  of  the  faith,"  Franke.  Though 
some  of  his  numerous  hymns  are,  with  all  their  fluency  and 
fervor,  neat  in  expression  and  pure  in  taste,  many  of  them  are 
disfigured  by  a  childish  fondling  of  sacred  images,  by  that 
extreme  of  sensuous  mysticism,  which  finds  in  the  Song  of 
Solomon  the  hints  and  materials  of  its  inspiration.  Here  is  a 
favorable  specimen  of  his  style:  — 

••  I  [earl  to  heart  in  love  united, 
Rest  ye  in  the  heart  divine ; 


256  German  Hymns.  [Sept. 

Let  your  zeal,  by  Jesus  lighted, 

To  his  glory  burn  and  shine  ! 
He  the  head  and  we  the  members, 

We  the  light,  the  fountain  he, 
He  the  master,  we  the  brethren, 

He  is  ours,  and  his  are  we. 

"  Come,  ye  children,  mercy  sharing, 

And  your  covenant  renew ! 
To  our  conquering  Captain  swearing, 

From  the  heart,  allegiance  true  ! 
When  you  feel  your  love-chain  failing, 

In  temptation's  mighty  strain, 
Seek  the  Lord  in  prayer  prevailing, 

Till  he  temper  it  again. 

"  Ah,  thou  gracious  Friend,  united 

Keep  henceforth  thy  chosen  flock, 
That,  by  thy  last  words  incited, 

They  in  heart-felt  love  may  walk  ! 
Thou,  who  art  the  uncreated 

Word  of  truth  and  life,  unite 
All  that  are  illuminated 

By  the  clearness  of  thy  light ! 

"  Make  our  bond  still  wider,  stronger, 

With  each  other  and  with  thee, 
Till,  on  earth's  whole  round,  no  longer 

We  one  severed  member  see. 
When  our  love,  a  pure  flame,  blazes, 

That  from  thee  its  brightness  drew, 
Then  the  world  shall  own,  with  praises, 

We  are  thy  disciples  true." 

In  no  Liturgy  does  so  much  of  the  expression  take  the  hymn 
form  as  in  the  Moravian.  The  very  name  Moravian  seems 
almost  to  convey,  of  itself,  the  twin  ideas  of  mysticism  and 
music.  Very  beautiful  and  wholesome,  when  rightly  regulated, 
is  that  union  of  elements.  But  there  was  a  period,  of  about 
ten  years,  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which 
showed  the  danger  of  letting  anything  but  sober  reason  hold 
the  reins,  even  (if  we  should  not  say  especially')  in  religion. 
It  has  been  called  by  the  brethren  themselves  the  period  of 
"  child's  play,"  and  seems  to  have  led  Zinzcndorf  to  retract 
several  of  his  hymns.  In  a  Moravian  Service-Book  of  1823, 
under  the  head  of  Hymns  for  the  Passion,  we  find  a  long 


1800.]  German  Hymns.  257 

prayer  in  alternate  verses,  addressed  entirely  to  the  side  of  the 
crucified  .Jesus,  perhaps  a  translation  of  one  of  those  by  St. 
Bernard  already  referred  to.     It  begins:  — 

"  (-1//.)  Be  thy  name  called  glorious, 

Lamb  of  I  rod,  thai  died  for  us ! 
We  hail  the  opening  of  thy  side : 
Let  all  thy  wounds  he  glorified. 
Angels  desire  to  look  upon 
What,  for  us  mortals,  there  was  done; 

(Sisters.)      But  angels  veil  their  shrinking  sight, 
Awe-struck  with  that  mysterious  light : 

(.1//.)  Only  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  Bride, 

(Mi/tister.)   Which  he  has  built  from  out  his  side, 

(All.)  She  sees  his  wounds  in  glorious  light, 

"With  open  and  unveiled  sight, 
(ilory  and  thanks  to  thee 
Through  all  eternity, 
Heart  that  for  us  did  break, 
Transpierced  for  our  sake  ! 

(Minister.)  Look  up,  and  see  the  rocky  cleft, 
And  in  the  cleft  the  fountain-reft 
"Whence  you,  ye  saints,  God's  chosen  race, 
Were  digged  and  hewed  of  his  free  grace  ! 
Amen!" 

But,  with  all  its  dangers,  the  idea  in  which  the  Moravian 
communion  originated  is  too  true  to  a  want  of  the  human  heart 
to  be  ever  abandoned  ;  for  it  rests  upon  that  word  of  the  Master, 
"  He  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  in  heaven,  the  same  is 
my  brother  and  sister  and  mother ;  "  and  the  predominance  of 
the  musical  element  in  their  worship  may  well  stand  as  a  pre- 
sentiment of  the  higher  harmonies  of  the  perfect  Church. 


22 


258  St.  Augustine  at  Hippo.  [Sept. 

Art.   VI  —  ST.   AUGUSTINE   AT  HIPPO. 

1.  The    Confessions  of  Augustine,  edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by 

William  G.  T.  Shedd.     Andover :  Warren  F.  Draper.     1860. 

2.  Bohringer's  Kirchengeschichte  in  Biographien.      Band  I.  Abth.  3. 

3.  Sermons  on  Selected  Lessons  of  the  New   Testament,  by  St.  Au- 

gustine,   Bishop    of  Hippo.       Oxford:     John    Henry    Parker. 
1844. 

The  handsome  edition  of  the  Confessions  of  Augustine  just 
published,  under  the  supervision  of  Prof.  Shedd,  cannot  fail  to 
be  most  acceptable  to  a  large  religious  public.  The  work  is  a 
reprint  of  the  old  English  translation,  already  republished  in 
Boston  in  1843,  and  which  has  seemed  to  us,  on  a  somewhat 
careful  comparison  with  the  original  text,  remarkably  true  to 
the  author's  meaning :  but  the  present  edition  is  far  superior, 
in  elegance  and  convenience,  both  to  its  predecessor  in  this 
country  and  to  the  Oxford  translation  under  Pusey's  super- 
vision. The  preliminary  essay  by  the  editor,  if  longer  than 
need  be,  contains  much  that  is  valuable,  and  is  well  adapted 
to  the  class  of  readers  among  whom  the  book  will  chiefly  go. 
Its  characterization  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the 
Confessions,  however  superfluous  for  those  already  familiar 
with  them,  is  just  and  clear,  and  may  lead  fresh  students  into 
this  wonderful  work,  which  exhibits  the  consciousness  of  a 
great  soul>,  so  clarified  by  intense  religious  experience  that  the 
reader  sees,  as  in  a  forest  pool,  at  once  the  sediment  which 
has  been  deposited  below,  and  the  blue  heaven  reflected  from 
above. 

Aurelius  Augustinus  was  born  in  the  little  Numidian  town 
of  Tagaste,  November  13,  A.  D.  354.  His  father,  Patricius, 
was  a  pagan  ;  his  mother,  Monica,  one  of  the  saintliest  Christian 
women  that  ever  taught  a  child  to  pray.  From  his  birth,  he 
tells  us,  he  was  "  sealed  with  the  mark  of  His  cross,  and  salted 
with  His  salt."  In  all  his  wanderings  through  error  and  sin, 
this  mother's  love  was  ever  drawing  his  heart  toward  the  heav- 
enly peace  in  which  she  abode  perpetually.  She  yearned  over 
him  through  those  long  years  when  he  filled  himself  with  the 


A    FEW 

COMPLETE    SETS 


OF   THE 


CHRISTIAN  EXAMINER 


MAKING 


SIXTY-EIGHT  VOLUMES, 

may  be  obtained  of  the  Proprietor,  at 

WALKER,    WISE,    &    CO.'S, 

245  Washington  Street, 
#  BOSTON. 

NUMBERS     WANTED. 

A  liberal  price  will  be  paid  for  Nos.  1  to  12, 
inclusive,  of  the  Christian  Examiner.  Also,  for 
copies  of  the  Examiner  for  January  and  March, 
1860. 


CONTENTS, 


Art-  Page 

I.  Paul's  Argument  for  the  Abolition  or  the  Law  .        .157 

II.  The  Women  of  Thackeray 167 

HI.  Dr.  Huntington's  Introduction  to  Bickersteth       .        .191 

IY.  Leslie 218 

V.  German  Hymns 234 

VI.  St.  Augustine  at  Hippo     .......        258 

VII.  Review  of  Current  Literature 280 


New  Publications  Received 310 


